I have recently started giving tuitions to 2 kids, a girl and a boy. They are in class II and U.K.G. respectively. Schools here have reopened after 3 months of vacation. When I agreed to teach them, on the request of their mother, I was glad that I will have something more to do, to kill some time every day. I was excited as teaching is something I have always enjoyed doing.
The boy cries everyday refusing to come to tuition. His mother literally pushes him inside my house. On the first day, when he sat sulking in a corner, I told him I’d give him a cup-cake if he came in and did his home-work. It worked. The next day, to my surprise, he said, “Teachaa, first you give me cake, then I do my home work.” Too smart. I realized soon that he is a ‘born negotiator’ . He has to negotiate for everything and anything. I say, read this spelling aloud 10 times and he will say “Please teachaa, 10 times no reading. Only 5 times.” When I say write One to Twelve, he says ‘Please teachaa, I no write. I tell. Please…please….please…please…” Yeah, he will keep on saying please till he realizes that there is no use.
On the first day, just to brush up, I gave the girl some additions and subtractions.. “2 in the mind, 3 on the fingers. After 2…3, 4, 5.”
I smiled to myself. That was how we all did our additions. She has a whole lot of questions like, “Where you ‘buyed’ this dress teachaa?”, “You know rangoli teachaa?” “For tuition we have summer holidays teachaa?”
It is amazing how kids can surprise us. They all do the same things but in their individual style. Their questions are so innocent and concepts so simple. They don’t even need a joke to laugh. They are always excited about something and have always have something to tell. But soon I realized that teaching some one that young is not as easy as I thought. Their attention span is short and they keep getting restless by the second.
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